Sensex closes at new lifetime high on sustained liquidity push

Benchmark indices surged in trade today with the BSE Sensex hitting a new lifetime closing high of 21,021 points (provisional), breaching its previous high set on 5 November 2010, when the index ended at 21,004.96. The Nifty closed the day higher by points at 30.80 points, as foreign funds continued to push stock prices higher.

Today's sharp rally was across sectors including those from the banking, pharma, telecom and IT sector. Bharti Airtel was the star performer in trade with the stock rallying 6 per cent, following a good set of Q2 numbers.

ICICI Bank, which rallied almost 4 per cent on Tuesday following the RBI Monetary Policy also gained ground in trade. The stock today ended almost 2.5% higher.

Pharma stocks were also in demand today after Lupin reported better then expected numbers. Other gainers apart from Lupin from the pharma sector were Dr Reddy's Cipla and Ranbaxy Labs.

Grasim Industries., which reported numbers that were in line with expectations also gained ground in trade. Other notable gainers were Bhel, Bajaj Auto, and NTPC.

Software stocks ended the day mixed with Wipro and Infosys declining, while TCS and HCL Tech gained ground. FMCG stocks also joined the list of gainers with ITC and Hindustan Unilever gaining ground.

Oriental Bank which reported a sharp increase in gross non performing assets ended the day lower by almost 3 per cent.

Despite markets ending the day sharply higher most of the PSU banking stocks ended the day lower with notable losers being Union Bank, Allahabad Bank and Andhra Bank.

Other Nifty losers were Mahindra and Mahindra, Larsen and Toubro and HDFC Bank.

Mid Cap stocks also ended the day higher with gainers from the space being Havells, IFCI and Oracle Financials.

Meanwhile, Asian markets ended the day higher with the Hang Sang closing the day higher by 2%, while the Nikkei gained 1.21% in trade.